author
Sir Richard Blackmore
1654–1729
A doctor at the royal court and a tireless writer, this unusual figure moved between medicine, religion, politics, and poetry. He was widely read in his own day, even if later generations remembered him as much for satire as for his epic ambitions.
1 Audiobook
Essay upon Wit
by Sir Richard Blackmore
About the author
Born in Corsham, Wiltshire, in 1654, Sir Richard Blackmore built a career that joined medicine and literature in a very public way. Reliable reference sources describe him as an English physician and writer, and note that he studied at Oxford before taking a medical degree at Padua and establishing himself in London.
Blackmore served as physician in ordinary to King William III and later to Queen Anne, and he was knighted in 1697 for his professional service. Alongside his medical work, he wrote long heroic poems, religious works, and political pieces, becoming one of the more visible literary figures of his time.
His reputation changed sharply after his death in 1729. Later readers often remembered him less as a celebrated court physician than as a target of satire, yet that mixed legacy is part of what makes him interesting: he was a serious, energetic writer whose ambitions were large enough to provoke both praise and ridicule.